


Go For It

by SolarMorrigan



Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-24
Updated: 2017-02-24
Packaged: 2018-09-26 16:51:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,178
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9912071
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SolarMorrigan/pseuds/SolarMorrigan
Summary: Newt makes friends with Graves, and Graves is fairly certain it's taking years off his life expectancy.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Written as a fill for [this prompt](http://comment-fic.livejournal.com/767598.html?thread=100607854#t100607854) on comment-fic on livejournal

To say that Graves was entirely pleased to suddenly find himself in the persistent company of someone whose life philosophy boiled down to “what the hell, go for it” would be something of an overstatement. If the incident with Grindelwald didn’t shave a good ten years off Graves’ life, his friendship with Newt Scamander was certainly working towards it.

It wasn’t as though Graves hadn’t tried to distance himself from Newt at the onset of what appeared to be some sort of friendship—not because Newt was a _bad_ person, but because Newt was a _reckless_ person and Graves already had enough of that in his life—but there had been the incident with the niffler (of course there had been, there was _always_ an incident with the niffler) that had ended in the nearest wizarding hospital because Newt had decided ‘what the hell’ and taken a flying leap off a building before apparating onto the pavement below. Newt had actually landed just fine, with a surprising amount of accuracy and grace; it was the no-maj vehicle that had hit him shortly afterward that had caused the damage. He was fine, of course, the vehicle had been coming to a stop, anyway—“Just a broken leg and a few bruises, Mr. Graves, the healers will have me fixed right up, I’ve dealt with worse”—but sitting beside Newt in the hospital while trying to wrangle a struggling niffler as they waited for Tina to appear with Newt’s case was the sort of situation Graves had wanted to distance himself from.

But he’d had to go and make sure Newt really was alright as he proclaimed to be, just to follow up, and that was how he’d actually ended up in Newt’s highly illegal case full of dangerous beasts. Graves had been turning a blind eye to it up to that point, as had pretty much the whole of MACUSA, because Newt had done them a great service in helping reveal Grindelwald and he was doing good work for them now, shoring up their magical beasts division, but there was a difference between knowing the case existed and actually being inside it. It was much easier to ignore when one was not inside it, Graves would like it noted.

It seemed to be policy, however, that anyone who visited the case had to help feed the creatures (another good reason not to be in the damned case, Graves would also like it noted). And although Newt had literally just been released from the hospital perhaps twelve hours prior, he seemed perfectly happy to cart around heavy buckets and bins and check over large and dangerous creatures and Graves could only follow around and try futilely to get Newt to put the damn bucket down because he was still _limping_ for the love of Mercy Lewis, though Newt assured him his leg only hurt a little and he would be back to full strength in no time at all. But there was something to be said for Graves’ skills of persuasion, and Newt did finally concede to allowing Graves to carry some of the heavier loads and tend to some of the more difficult to reach beasts. Which left Graves carefully placing hunks of… something dead in front of a rather haughty looking nundu because apparently Newt had decided ‘let’s have the high-ranking security official feed possibly the most dangerous and illegal creature in my case, what the hell.’

And if all that wasn’t bad enough, Newt had chattered at Graves the entire time. Mostly about beasts, but a little about his travels, and even a little about his brother Theseus, which was at least common ground. And Graves for some reason found that he enjoyed _listening_. And even _joining the conversation_. So much so that Graves temporarily lost his good sense and invited Newt to lunch.

So it was that Graves and Newt would sit down somewhere for lunch at least once a week. Sometimes they grabbed a quick bite in Newt’s case and sometimes Newt would decide it was fine to invade the auror department, what the hell, and they’d eat in Graves’ office and sometimes, very occasionally, they might be lucky enough to actually sit down to lunch at a café somewhere like sensible people. Of course, eating somewhere in public carried its dangers, because Newt was far too easily distracted and Graves couldn’t very well leave the man to wander off _alone_ , because who knew what the hell he’d stumble into.

As it turned out, Graves’ presence wasn’t a particular deterrent in Newt making rash decisions and, to date, they had followed at least three shady characters (all of whom had actually turned out to be doing something _actually_ shady, and Graves briefly considered asking Newt if he wanted to join the auror department, because his ability to sense illegal activity was better than half of Graves’ junior aurors put together, until Graves remembered Newt could probably sense it because he so often engaged in less than legal activities himself), tromped through what must have been the entirety of Central Park at least twice over, stumbled in and out of more wizard and no-maj shops that Graves cared to count, and picked up no less than 15 magical creatures that were _not_ supposed to be in the city (half of which Graves is certain were now residents in Newt’s case), all because Newt had shrugged his shoulders and decided ‘what the hell.’

So, no. Graves was not particularly thrilled to be dragged along on Newt Scamander’s fantastic adventures in what seemed to be an endeavor to see exactly how much trouble he could find within a 15 mile radius of the Woolworth building.

But quiet evenings, when they’d both been working hard at their respective jobs and needed a break, or perhaps just wanted to enjoy the company of another person, when they could just sit and read or chat or eat a simple meal and not be subject to the chaos their lives ( _Newt’s_ life in particular, Graves will once again note) seemed to invite, those were nice. Those were evenings when Newt might actually relax next to Graves and when Graves might actually do the same, when they would speak in hushed voices and allow small, fire-lit smiles, and when there was very little opportunity for Newt to throw caution to the wind and embrace whatever trouble he could find.

Very little opportunity until the night when Newt apparently decided to throw caution to the wind, embrace _Graves_ , and press a soft kiss to the side of his mouth, because what the hell.

To say, after that, that Graves was entirely displeased to find himself in the persistent company of a paramour whose life philosophy essentially boiled down to “what the hell, go for it” would be something of an overstatement. If Newt’s adventures were shaving years off of Graves’ life, then Newt’s unwavering affection was at least doing something to put a few back on. So what the hell. Graves went for it.

**Author's Note:**

> Crossposted on my [tumblr](http://solarmorrigan.tumblr.com/). Drop by and visit if you want, prompts and conversations are always welcome


End file.
